"Is this..."
Qasim’s eyes narrowed.
"Perhaps... Finna?"
He immediately turned toward Selena.
"Do you guys use Finna power system?"
Selena, who was still completely absorbed in praising her leader, blinked at the sudden question.
Then she raised her chin, a proud smile appearing across her face.
"Yes. We elves are famous for creating and using Finna. And our leader here was one of the most well known users back in the Spiritual World."
She turned toward Aluna with sparkling eyes, clearly ready to continue praising her.
But then Selena noticed something strange.
Qasim was licking his lips.
She immediately had a bad feeling about what he was going to say.
"Can you teach me?"
"..."
The battle between Aluna and Zyra didn’t last particularly long and ended up with Aluna winning.
Obviously.
For Qasim, however, the more interesting part wasn’t the result.
It was how Aluna fought, she summoned strange creatures that seemed almost unreal.
*Wait until I convince them...*
***
After the fights were over, the expedition members gathered together again.
Doran and Yasmin had both performed well against the goblins and earned high positions among the participants.
Levia had a harder time.
Goblin bodies were naturally strong, meaning her magic had to hit them repeatedly before they finally went down.
Still, she managed to earn a respectable position.
Valen’s situation was slightly different.
He had directly used an artifact sword.
Several goblins immediately complained that he was cheating, but once they learned that Valen had created the sword himself through his own power system, they reluctantly accepted his result.
He earned a high position.
Meanwhile...
"Please!"
"No."
"Just one lesson!"
"No."
"I promise I’ll listen!"
"No."
"You don’t even have to teach me everything!"
"Just some basics!"
"No."
Qasim continued begging Selena and the other elves.
They repeatedly explained that Finna was extremely difficult for humans to learn, and even harder for them to use.
Even Auna who Qasim thinks is the kindest refused, but he didn’t care.
A short distance away, Doran, Valen, Levia and Yasmin were sitting on a nearby rock, watching the whole thing.
"So he will keep acting like this?" Doran asked.
"Of course~" Valen replied proudly. "Our precious boy inherited his love for knowledge from me~"
"Y-you are not his biological dad, Valen..." Levia quietly pointed out while Yasmin said nothing.
Valen looked away.
"That’s not important."
***
Once everything was settled, Zyra gathered the expedition members together.
She handed each person a small mana stone.
"This will allow us to communicate with one another while inside the dungeon."
Qasim, while still visible sad that he didn’t learn Finna examined the stone for a moment before putting it away.
With everyone prepared, they finally approached the entrance.
The Death Caves.
From the outside, it looked like nothing more than a massive, deep cave.
The moment they entered, however, the atmosphere changed.
Cold stone surrounded them.
The light from outside slowly disappeared behind them.
Their footsteps echoed through the darkness.
For the first few minutes, there was nothing but rock and empty tunnels.
But eventually, the path began splitting.
One tunnel became two.
Then three, then four.
Zyra pulled out a map.
It contained the routes recorded from previous expeditions.
She studied it for a moment before pointing toward the four paths.
"We’ll split here."
Four of Zyra’s students immediately began preparing their equipment.
The plan was simple.
The twenty-four members would split into four groups.
Each group would have six members.
The Black Seed teams would remain together since they already knew how to work with one another.
Each group would then receive one goblin responsible for mapping their route.
That way, every unexplored section could be recorded during the expedition.
Soon, the four groups were ready.
One by one, they entered their assigned tunnels.
Qasim followed Valen’s group into one of the middle passages.
Their group consisted of Valen, Doran, Yasmin, Levia, Qasim and their goblin mapmaker.
The young goblin was constantly drawing.
Every turn.
Every rock formation.
Every small change in the tunnel.
Qasim watched him for a while.
"You’re very talented, by the way."
The goblin immediately smiled.
His eyes practically sparkled.
"Thank you for your compliment, strong human boy!"
Qasim’s smile froze.
"Strong human boy...?"
They were really going to call him that?
"Just call me Qasim."
The goblin tilted his head.
"Ok, Qasim."
"What is your name?"
"I am Skurt!"
"Well, nice to meet you, Skurt."
Doran glanced back at them.
"You two can delay the talking until later and focus here."
Qasim looked forward again and immediately froze.
The tunnel had opened into a large chamber.
A horrible and nasty smell filled the air.
Something rotten.
Something that reminded him of a corpse.
Qasim instinctively covered his nose.
"What the hell...?"
He followed the smell.
Then he saw it.
A massive lump of flesh sat in the middle of the chamber.
It looked almost like a giant piece of rotten meat.
Blue veins crawled across its surface.
Strange liquid dripped from it and spread across the floor.
And worst of all...
It was moving.
Everyone immediately became alert.
"W-What is this?" Levia asked.
Valen covered his nose.
"Well, whatever it is, it’s so nasty I could fade from the smell."
"Focus. No time for jokes, leader." Doran replied.
Yasmin looked at the thing.
"Want me to destroy it?"
"No... not yet."
Valen narrowed his eyes.
"We don’t know if it will explode and kill us all."
"Should I use electric magic on it? Maybe I can kill it without touching it."
"That sounds like a good idea boy."
Valen nodded.
"Just in case, hit it with a small amount first. Let’s see how it reacts."
Qasim nodded.
He created a copy of the mana engine that he has been using to creat the fire and electric spells.
This time, however, he lowered its output considerably.
A weak electric spell formed in his hand.
The electricity struck the mass of flesh.
It absorbed the shock, and nothing happened.
Qasim lowered his hand.
"So...?"
He was about to ask what they should do next when the flesh moved.
Violently.
Everyone immediately stepped backward.
The strange mass twitched.
Once.
Twice.
Then repeatedly.
The entire thing began shaking.
The team raised their guards.
Something moved inside.
Qasim’s eyes widened.
"What...?"
A pale hand suddenly burst through the flesh.
Long claws extended from its fingers.
Another hand emerged.
Then both hands grabbed the rotten mass.
*RIP!*
The flesh tore apart.
A dark red mist exploded through the chamber.
The horrible smell became even stronger.
Everyone immediately covered their mouths and noses.
The mist slowly cleared and something stood inside the remains of the flesh.
A humanoid figure.
It was unnaturally pale.
Its body was painfully thin.
Its limbs were long and unnatural.
Its head was a long rectangle.
There were no eyes.
No mouth.
No nose.
Nothing.
It simply stood there.
Motionless.
The entire team stared at it.
Then it’s body twitched.
Small fungi suddenly began growing from its shoulder.
The strange mushrooms moved causing their bodies vibrated.
A high-pitched sound suddenly filled the chamber.
"AGH!"
Everyone covered their ears.
The sound was unbearable.
They tried to cover their ears.
But the moment they moved...
The creature reacted.
Its head suddenly turned when it realized something.
It knew they were there.
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